Scene: Grillo – Jenga Tears
Scene
What's up
What’s up
Scene: Arcologies – Ask the Stars
"Tracker’s workflow encourages me to create small and evolving changes throughout my tracks."
“When Polyend announced the Tracker, I knew it was going to be an instant purchase for me. I was nostalgic. I’d be able to continue to use the workflow I was so familiar with when I was making music back in the day with PlayerPRO on my PowerBook G3, but with a discrete hardware device! I enjoy using the computer to make music, and I’m a big fan of modern trackers like Renoise, but there’s something special about being able to use a hardware workstation instead of staring at a computer screen and a piano roll.”
Download
Get the project of Arcologies – Ask the Stars. It’s an ambient/chill drum n’ bass track. Check out my YouTube channel for more Ambient Jungle/DNB and other songs created on the Tracker, many of which include the project files that you can download straight away. I also plan to continue my tutorial series that will cover various Tracker production topics. I’m really glad to be a part of the Tracker community, and am always up for contributing in any way that I can!”
“The Tracker is easy to use, so I was able to familiarize myself with the workflow after a few hours. I realized almost immediately just how fast, intuitive, and elegant the Tracker is. The UI, fx, sound quality, song mode, beat slicing… just everything about it worked perfectly for me right out of the box. Lately, I find that I am more motivated to make music with the Tracker than I am with a laptop. It’s nice being able to just chill with it, and practice slicing and sequencing breaks and beats for hours.”
“For me, one of the best things about using the device is how it speaks to my personal music philosophy of keeping my songs simple. The tracker gives me 8 tracks, and while on paper that may seem to be limiting, once you learn how to use the tracker workflow and gather your sounds and samples, you’ll realize that it’s more than enough to put together a full song. I know this is cliche… but I like being limited, it encourages me to be as creative as possible and once you can resort to finding creative solutions for something, it becomes easier to break out of a loop trap or producer’s block.”
“Tracker’s workflow encourages me to create small and evolving changes throughout my tracks. I’ll create four or five break patterns and then dupe them and make small changes here and there… and while doing that, I’ll get an idea for something I want to change in a melodic element that I’m using. At the end of all of this, I’ll have like 20-25 unique patterns to work with. This is where the Tracker really shines: creating these changes using other hardware devices can feel like a chore… but it feels completely fluid on the Tracker.”
“I don’t own a lot of hardware, but I do have a couple of old rack samplers and let me tell you, the Tracker’s MIDI sequencing capabilities has breathed new life into my E-MU e5000 and Akai S3000XL. I used to sequence these with Renoise or Ableton, but it’s not the most inspiring setup, so I started to use them less and less. I’ve been using the Tracker with these samplers a lot over the past couple of months and it’s been great. If you have any interest in using old samplers, the Tracker will at least make sequencing them without a computer an enjoyable experience (dealing with floppies and crazy ancient file transfer methods on the other hand) There’s also a lot to be said about using the Tracker with iOS. It has hundreds of affordable synths, samplers, and effects. However, I don’t quite feel at home with the sequencers or DAWs available on that platform, but all I need to do is hook up the Tracker via USB and I have an entire mobile studio ready to be sequenced with the same workflow that I’ve been using the past four months.”
Arcologies
Is a technology analyst and music producer from the Chicago suburbs. Focuses on making ambient jungle, drum n’ bass, and other electronic music. Occasionally produces minimal techno, using an MPC and other hardware, under the name Vermillion Cloak.
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